Heres the thing. As much as I LOVE the older boats, and have owned several vintage offshore boats, at some point you have to think of it from a financial standpoint. A showroom cherry 1979 30FT scarab is worth what in todays market? 15-20K? I really don't think resale from adding bravo's is gonna make or break the deal on that boat.

Personally, I would enjoy the boat and run it as is. If your going for big power, and wanna run hard, I'd skip the bravo's and go straight to the Konrads. A lot less work, and a superior drive compared to a bravo. Everything else stays the same. A standard Konrad will get your props up higher than they are now. And I believe they also offer a even shorter lower if needed. Do that and add some 600-650HP engines and run the snot out of it!!

Rocket, whats approx HP you are running through your Konrads? What size props are you running also? Thanks, plan to have a similar setup.

Exactly what I was thinking. Before investing 12K+ in a 33 year old boat to pick up 5-6 mph I think I would just look for a different boat.

I agree... You're basically married to the thing after you do the conversion. I would only do it if you plan on running the boat for at least 5-6 years after the conversion.

Unless you're in love with the thing I'd sell it for $10-12k and buy something in the late 80's early 90's with Bravos for $16-25k.

I sold the mistress with the Konrads. It had 675 HP Naturally Aspirated. I was running 26 Bravo I 4 blades. I picked up about 3-4 miles an hour when I switched from Trs to Konrads. The boat ran a consistant 76-77. It touched 80 on a few passes. This was GPS Speeds

The Gun I have now, has 3A's. Different animal, I had chief power originally, but now I have added a few more Cobra ponies for the spring!

How can you tell if it's a Merc trans? Are the BW velvets an after market trans?

More info, more info.

Thanks everyone for their input. This boat is just a stepping stone to get a bigger boat. I'm just doing some updating to the boat, putting thru hull/captains call on the boat. changing color (this ain't the 70's anymore)lol

Merc Trans were only around in the 70's but so were the B-W's. After that it was all B-W's for the TRS. On the Merc Trans the bell housing and trans is all one piece aluminum. They have a silver ID tag on top center. On a B-W the trans and bellhousing are seperate. Their 8" longer than a Merc Trans and ID tag is on the top port side and uaually red or green.